Well survived the COMEDOWN of excitement..

of the Australian trip BUT only just!!! ONE very full of himself LAD and he has grown another 4 cm in like a month HE is towering over alot of people and played his FIRST ever EVER position in rugby as 2nd row in the lineout AND made every jump and every pass WAS even more so full of his own importance! eeeekkkkk (I am growing a monster!)

I will try hard to post some pictures soon of aussie BUT I am having problems resizing photos and downsizing grrrrr it is doing my head in, not much else to report Samuel is hard in training for the NZ National CHAMPIONSHIPS in AUG 13th - 15th!!! Iam hoping he A: goes up a dan(from 1st to 2nd) B: does well and improves on his last efforts to feel MORE important( oh yay) C: gets choosen fulltime for the NZ team!! or is strongly indicated for the TEAM Takahashi Shihan is here for the Nationals and is here in NZ Samuel will get the luxury of another 5 days training ACTUALLY I will post his KARATE REPORT he did on the trip for the NZ Magazine Karate Kicks Butt!!! (lol nah I dont know what it is called I'm just being silly!)


Queensland Trip Report 2010

Well for 7 weeks now I have been fundraising, and after writing countless letters, organising sausage sizzles and walking around Taupo selling raffle tickets I have finally raised enough money to head over to Australia. And it should have been easy but no I went and fractured my toe, which meant no Karate, Rugby, Rugby practice or school sports even for 7 weeks. And I only got medical clearance to leave 2 weeks before competition day. Right away I got set packing my bags. Togs, clothes, sunnies jandals camera, ah oh yea and my Karate Gear. Then there were the phone calls and e mails to Grant Stove organising the finer details (poor Grant mum is such a worrywart).

On the day of the flight I am not nervous at all, and as the plane taxis down the runway, lift-off! We are on our way! Heading through Brisbane customs (must not laugh… at accent) and then we head out into the wonderful world of… Motorway? Yep 5 hours on a plane then another 4 ½ hours driving, past places like Gin Gin and Gympie and Moojimbia and I thought that NZ place names were strange. We finally made it to Childers and had met our host family we were just starting to relax when I get told that I had to get my Gi on. What!? We have training today?

Another 4 long days of training with Takahashi Shihan ensue. Which include blood, sweat and breaking sticks. Learning new Kata, improving old Kata going over and over basics and improving Kumite skill. And the BUNGEE CORDS who bought the bungee cords? They were just wonderful! Added tension to your arms just to make the hard training harder. But it was worth it, I have come home more STRONGA! FASTA! MORE TWISTO! Ah yes very good.

Saturday competition day already? First of all the Kyu grades battle it out in Kata and Kumite. Working up to brown belts then team Kata then finally it’s the black belts turn. I had to do Heian Nidan as my knockout Kata. Not my favourite but I still tried. And with my Kumite I thought I would do better than I did but oh well I will just get them next time. The finals done everyone was lined up Australia one side NZ on the other, the all important haka begins TARINGA WHAKARONGO! TARINGA WHAKARONGO! KIA MO! HI! Oh yea those Aussies were scared. The fighting was intense a blood nose, sore bones, bad bruises and a hospital bound person. Knock em down! NZ win TEST MATCHES 5-4 woohoo.

After the competition we get our good clothes on and head to the Isis club. A great end to an amazing week. Good food, good company and lots of dancing. There was a lively band playing old schools songs and a game of ball rush going on outside on the field. The last day was an early start and after saying goodbye to our host families it’s another 41/2 hour trip back to Brisbane airport. But the trip was made more enjoyable with techno music blasting from our phones we were a mobile rave! The music reverberating in the minds of the slightly hung over Sensei’s, a few laps around the airport shops it’s finally time to board our plane, it was great fun in Australia and I had an awesome time but it is wonderful to be heading back home. As the plane is coming in to land the captain announces its 3 degrees down in NZ. 3 degrees! Yep we are back home. Thanks to Grant and Mark for organising a great trip. and to anyone considering heading away on these trips, do! It is a fantastic opportunity

Samuel Mason, Taupo